Aggies to the SEC

Archive for the ‘Texas A&M’ Category

Interested in Contributing?

Posted on: October 22nd, 2013 by SECAG No Comments

As I worried it would, this page has been very underutilized for quite some time.

The Aggies had an amazing breakout season as they were welcomed to the SEC. We beat Alabama at Alabama, won every road game, competed to the finish even in our two losses and finished in the top 5 for our best finish since 1956. To top that, we destroyed OU in the Cotton bowl, and had our first Heisman Trophy winner since 1957. Thank you Johnny Manziel!

We started 2013 with expectations that were just as high and with championships on our minds – though the defense hasn’t allowed those hopes to continue, it’s been an interesting season to watch thus far, with a lot more to come.

Yet through all this, I sucked at updating this site. For those random people that have stumbled across this place, I’m sorry.

But that brings me to the purpose of this post. I’m looking for any good Ags that are looking for a place to put their thoughts, ideas, stories, pictures, gifs or even videos. I’ve built this site and kind of like it, I just need help from others to fill it up. If you might be interested or have any ideas, just shoot them my way through the form and we’ll see what we can do.

Android Phone Background

Posted on: April 18th, 2012 by SECAG No Comments

I made this background for my Evo while back and figured I’d make it available to anyone that might want it.

To Download: Click image above and once it expands right click and save as

DFW SEC Fans

Posted on: October 20th, 2011 by SECAG No Comments

After following the move all so closely, I’ve Been on a bit of a break from the internet, but it’s time to get going again. Though we have two slightly disappointing losses on the record, the season has been entertaining thus far, and the team Texas A&M is putting on the field has been an exciting one with a ton of potential.

It is also a little late notice, but I just found out about this and thought I’d share. What better way to get going in the SEC than to immerse yourself in the culture and start building the brotherhood that the SEC is so famous for and we are clearly excited about. Well you can start tonight if you are in the DFW metroplex as the DFW SEC Fans are having their monthly SEC Mixer. If you are interested, visit their website for information or the basic information is below.

www.dfwsecfans.com

Monthly Host: Ole Miss Rebels
Thursday, Oct 20 @ 6:00 pm
Londoner – Uptown Dallas
2909 Thomas Ave
Dallas TX, 75204
(214) 979-2333

A Letter From the President

Posted on: September 26th, 2011 by SECAG No Comments

A letter sent out by the man himself, Dr. Bowen Loftin

To: Former Students of Texas A&M University

Howdy from your President!

This is an historic time in Aggieland. Yesterday, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) – the nation’s preeminent collegiate athletic conference – invited Texas A&M to become its 13th member, effective July 1, 2012. And we have accepted enthusiastically.

By charting our own course, we can ensure that Texas A&M will be part of the athletic conference that will provide us with national visibility, as well as greater financial opportunity and conference stability, starting next summer and for decades to come.

Like Texas A&M, eight of the 12 current SEC member institutions owe their origins to the Morrill Act of 1862, which revolutionized higher education through the creation of land-grant universities. And, like Texas A&M, SEC members have achieved national and international prominence. For example, two universities – Vanderbilt University and the University of Florida – are members, with Texas A&M, in the elite Association of American Universities, which has just 61 members in the United States and Canada.

Our counterparts in the SEC are much like Texas A&M in other fundamental ways as well: they celebrate their rich histories and perpetuate their unique traditions, they are passionate on the playing field and in the stands, and they are united in their commitment to instilling core values that will prepare future generations of leaders for our nation and world.

Finally, the SEC provides a national platform for its member institutions. As you know, Texas A&M has made great strides in becoming a national brand that is synonymous with excellence in all of its many forms.

We are ready for the national spotlight.

It’s time for Texas A&M.

And today, it’s time for the Aggie Family – our record 50,000 current students
and some 360,000 former students around the world – to celebrate.

I hope you will join me, Dr. Bernie Machen, chair of the SEC Presidents and Chancellors and president of the University of Florida; SEC Commissioner Mike Slive; and others at 6 p.m. today at The Zone Club for our official event to launch this new era. This event is open to the public. If you cannot attend in person, I encourage you to watch the festivities online at Aggieathletics.com.

Sincerely,
R. Bowen Loftin ’71
President

Official Announcement

Posted on: September 25th, 2011 by SECAG No Comments

Texas A&M University to Join Southeastern Conference

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (September 25, 2011) – The Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced today that Texas A&M University will join the Southeastern Conference effective July 1, 2012, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2012-13 academic year.

The addition of Texas A&M will increase the SEC membership to 13 institutions. It is the first expansion for the SEC since September of 1991 when the University of South Carolina joined the league. The University of Arkansas joined the SEC in August of 1991. With the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina, the SEC was the first conference to split into divisions and add a conference championship game in 1992.

“The Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors are pleased to welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family,” said Dr. Bernie Machen, chair of the SEC Presidents and Chancellors and president of the University of Florida. “The addition of Texas A&M University as the SEC’s 13th member gives our league a prestigious academic institution with a strong athletic tradition and a culture similar to our current institutions.”

“The Southeastern Conference provides Texas A&M the national visibility that our great university and our student-athletes deserve,” said Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin. “We are excited to begin competition in the nation’s premier athletic conference. This is a 100-year decision that we have addressed carefully and methodically, and I believe the Southeastern Conference gives the Aggies the best situation of any conference in the country.”

Texas A&M, located in College Station, will also be the third institution in the Southeastern Conference to hold membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities, joining University of Florida and Vanderbilt University. Texas A&M has an enrollment of 50,000 students, ranking as the sixth-largest university in the country, with 360,000 former students worldwide.

Texas A&M also adds to the athletic excellence of the SEC. Last season, the Aggies won three NCAA team titles (men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, women’s basketball) and finished eighth in the prestigious Learfield Sports Director’s Cup all-sport rankings.

“On behalf of our presidents, chancellors, athletics directors, students and fans, I welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. “Texas A&M is a nationally-prominent institution on and off the field and a great fit for the SEC tradition of excellence-athletically, academically and culturally.”

The Aggies sponsor 20 varsity sports. Men’s sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country. Women’s sports include basketball, equestrian, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country and volleyball. Texas A&M participates in every sport sponsored by the SEC except gymnastics and the SEC sponsors every sport the Aggies participate in except equestrian.

“All Nine”

Posted on: September 22nd, 2011 by SECAG No Comments

Those are my favorite words from all the events that occurred today,”all nine.”

In case you haven’t heard, the big twelve announced this evening that Dan Beebe would be stepping down as Big 12-2-1 commissioner. Former Big Eight commissioner Chuck Neinas will be filling in on an interim basis.

The league also announced the remaining nine teams pledged their tier 1 and tier 2 rights to the conference for the next 6 years. Everyone on that ride is on for a while it appears. The league on the verge of completely dissolving within the last week apparently has persuaded the 9 remaining members that this is in the best of all involved and this move is the beginning of rebuilding the stability that everyone is seeking.

As an Aggie, I can’t help but sit back and smile. As everyone of these teams was fretting and looking for a place to stay only to find themselves back together with all the reasons and schools they were looking to get away from, A&M sat on the sideline watching and waiting with the most stabil new home just waiting to be moved into.

Like I said, “all nine” were my favorite words of the day. Every time there was an interview, or a release, or a statement made, that reference was used. “All nine” schools decided this, or “all nine” schools are going to do that. Texas A&M is essentially as we’ve known, no longer in the Big 12-2-1. It’s just a matter of time till “all nine” schools say goodbye with a look of jealousy as we settle into our sweet new home in the SEC.

For another look at what happened and what was said today-
David Boren: Presidents agree to deal

Inching Closer

Posted on: September 20th, 2011 by SECAG No Comments

Tonight, the PAC 12 released the following statement–

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.– In light of the widespread speculation about potential scenarios for Conference re-alignment, the Pac-12 Presidents and Chancellors have affirmed their decision to remain a 12-team conference. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said, “after careful review we have determined that it is in the best interests of our member institutions, student-athletes and fans to remain a 12-team conference. While we have great respect for all of the institutions that have contacted us, and certain expansion proposals were financially attractive, we have a strong conference structure and culture of equality that we are committed to preserve. With new landmark TV agreements and plans to launch our innovative television networks, we are going to focus solely on these great assets, our strong heritage and the bright future in front of us.””

So what does this mean for the Aggies? Well it should clear the way for us to leave and for the Big 12-2-1 to send us on our way without a hassle. At this point it is in everyone’s best interest. The Big 12-2-1 will be staying together and it should now start to focus on who it is going to replace us with and if they should pick up more teams to go back to being a 12 team conference. With the team staying in tact and maybe even growing, Baylor should be OK to and even encouraged by conference mates to back off.

The SEC made the following tweet today, “The Southeastern Conference has not agreed, formally or informally, to accept any institution other than Texas A&M and there have not been conference discussions regarding changes in divisional alignments.” With this it just reiterates what we already knew that we were going. Now we can just expect the barriers to be pulled from both the Big 12-2-1 as well as the SEC sides.

Could September 21, 2011 be the day we remember being officially added to the SEC? We will soon know, and if tomorrow isn’t the day, it should be very very soon!

9-15-2011 Updates

Posted on: September 15th, 2011 by SECAG No Comments

While it continues to be oh so excruciatingly quiet this week, I have some quick updates as to where some things stand:

First off, the Aggies are gone. There is about a .001% chance of them going back to the Big 12-2-1. We followed the exit path set forth by the league, the SEC voted us in and now we are just waiting on everything else to shake out so we can officially accept that beautiful invite.

Now everything else going on isn’t so clear. First up is OU. They are apparently the last link keeping everyone from going on their merry way, and we may soon find out what their intentions are. They currently have a board of regents meeting setup for Monday, there are some very intriguing points of order in the agenda for that meeting. Here is the agenda, and I direct your attention to items 28 and 29.
OU Regents Official Agenda
As you can see, we should get a clear picture what direction OU, OSU and consequently the Big 12-2-1 will be going after this meeting Monday.

Now onto our good friend Ken Starr. It appears he decided this week was the week he needed even more help and headed all the way to Washington. That’s right K* is in Washington DC to try and scare up help for his lowly Conference USA bound bears. The beginning of this politico wrap-up gives a brief statement about Ken and his pleas in our Capital.
POLITICO Influence: Breaking: Ken Starr returns to Hill…
Why can’t Ken just move past all of this and see that he is doing nothing but hurting his own reputation(if possible) and that of his school? Baylor has the best team they’ve had in a long long time and that’s what he and his school should be focusing on. Instead of worrying about everyone else, worry about what they are doing themselves on the field and in finding the best future home of the Baylor Bears.

Lastly today we get to see what kind of fun those longhors are up to in Austin. It looks like one of Mack’s main men wasn’t being such a good boy and it got “ol’ Freak Nasty” into some trouble.
Cleve Bryant was fired for harassment

It’s been so slow with info about our move and everyone else’s this week that it’s driven me to focus on work and stay off the internet reading everything possible. Hopefully as we get through another actual game and move into next week starting with OU’s meeting we’ll have some more definitive information about our future as well as everyone else’s and we’ll try to keep you as up do date as possible as that happens.

SEC – Not If But When

Posted on: September 12th, 2011 by SECAG No Comments

These are comments made by Mike Slive, the commissioner of the SEC on Monday:

“In the 78 year history of the SEC, the conference had accepted the membership applications of only two institutions—Arkansas and South Carolina. Texas A&M is now the third. We remain optimistic that Texas A&M will be a member of the SEC and have started to look at schedules for 2012-13 involving 13 teams.

“As I said over the past year or so, the SEC has had no particular interest in expansion. We were, and are, happy with 12 teams. If Texas A&M’s President, Dr. Bowen Loftin had not called me in late July, we had no plans to explore adding an institution.

“However, when President Loftin called we became interested. Texas A&M is an outstanding academic institution with an exceptional athletic program, passionate fans and wonderful traditions. While the SEC wasn’t thinking about expansion, it was impossible not to be interested in Texas A&M. As you can see from the unanimous vote of our twelve Presidents/Chancellors, we would very much like to have Texas A&M as a member of our conference.

“When Texas A&M joins our conference, we don’t have immediate plans for a 14th member. We aren’t thinking in terms of numbers. We think about the strength of the SEC and the attractiveness of Texas A&M as an institution.”

From his words his seems to confirm everything we’ve been hearing for the last week that it’s just a matter of time before we ride ourselves of this Baylor problem and join the SEC where we belong.

Texas A&M There’s A Spirit 2011